Forty-one years in India: from subaltern to commander-in-chief

Extension of command--Efficiency of the Native Army --Concessions to the Native Army--Officering of the Native Army --The Hunza-Naga campaign--Visit to Nepal--A Nepalese enterta...

Sir Colin's preparations--The Alambagh --The Dilkusha and Martinière--Mayne's death--A tall-talk story --Ammunition required--A night march--The advance on Lucknow --Sir Colin w...

Mianganj--Curious effect of a mirage--The Dilkusha revisited --Passage of the Gumti--Capture of the Chakar Kothi --Capture of the iron bridge--Hodson mortally wounded --Outram's...

What brought about the Mutiny? --Religious fears of the people--The land question --The annexation of Oudh--Fulfilment of Malcolm's prophecy --The Delhi royal family--The Nana S...

Necessity for further action--Departure from Delhi --Action at Bulandshahr--Lieutenant Home's death--Knights-errant --Fight at Aligarh--Appeals from Agra --Collapse of the admin...

Before entering on the narrative of what came under my own observation during the three months I was at Delhi, I will relate what took place after Sir Henry Barnard succeeded Ge...

The Kuram valley--Conflicting news of the enemy --An apparently impregnable position--Spingawi route decided on --Disposition of the force--A night attack --Advantages of a nigh...

The Umbeyla expedition--The Akhund of Swat --The 'Eagle's Nest' and 'Crag piquet'--The death of Lord Elgin --Loyalty of our Pathan soldiers--Bunerwals show signs of submission -...

Political situation at Kabul--Serious trouble ahead --Macpherson attacks the Kohistanis--Combined movements --The uncertainty of war--The fight in the Chardeh valley --Forced to...

My wife and I thought and talked much over our new life on the frontier, to which we both looked forward with great interest and pleasure, but, before entering upon it, we settl...

Perceiving that further pursuit of the enemy would be useless, I decided to halt a few days to admit of our overtaxed transport bringing up supplies and tents, and to arrange fo...

Reinforcements begin to arrive--An assault again proposed --The attack on Alipur--Death of General Barnard --General Reed assumes command--Two V.C.'s--Treachery in camp --Fighti...

In 1860 an important alteration was made in the organization of the army in India, by the passing of a Bill for the amalgamation of the local European Forces with the Royal Army.

On the 14th October we moved camp to the left bank of the Jumna, where we were joined by a small party of Artillerymen with two 18-pounder guns, and some convalescents belonging...

I travelled home _viâ_ Corfu, Trieste, Venice, and Switzerland, arriving in England towards the end of June. The intense delight of getting 'home' after one's first term of exil...

We spent a very quiet year at Simla. My wife was far from strong, and we had another great sorrow in the death of a baby boy three weeks after his birth.

Before proceeding with the account of my experiences with the Movable Column, and the subsequent operations for the suppression of the rebellion, in which I was fortunate enough...

For a few days after our arrival at Lahore nothing could be settled as to the further movements of the column. It was wanted in all parts of the Punjab: Ferozeporo, Multan, Jhel...

Even the longest journey must come to an end at last, and early in November I reached Peshawar. My father, who was then in his sixty-ninth year, had just been appointed to comma...

Lord Lytton becomes Viceroy--Difficulties with Sher Ali --Imperial assemblage at Delhi--Reception of the Ruling Chiefs --Queen proclaimed Empress of India --Political importance...

It was intended, as I have before said, that the assault should be delivered at break of day, but many of the men belonging to the regiments of the storming force had been on pi...

Before daybreak on the 11th August, as I was starting from camp, I received my last communication from the outside world in the shape of a telegram from my wife, sent off from a...

I had had a great deal of fever during my eighteen months' residence at Peshawar, and in April, 1854, I obtained six months' leave to Kashmir. I travelled _viâ_ Murree to Abbott...

The night of the 17th passed off quietly. Before daybreak the next morning the troops were under arms. Thousands of the enemy had collected in the Kaisarbagh, and for the protec...

The Cavalry having reported that the road through the _sang-i-nawishta_ gorge was impassable, I started off a party[1] before it was fully light on the 6th, to work at it and ma...

At last I was at Kabul, the place I had heard so much of from my boy-hood, and had so often wished to see! The city lay beneath me, with its mud-coloured buildings and its 50,00...

The moment the gates were closed I telegraphed the result of the day's operations to the Viceroy and Commander-in-Chief, for I knew that the enemy's first thought would be to st...

In December I made a prolonged tour along the North-West Frontier, accompanied by my wife, who was greatly delighted at being able at last to see many places and meet many peopl...

By the 6th September all the reinforcements that could be expected, including the siege train (consisting of thirty-two pieces of ordnance with ample ammunition) had arrived in...

The time had now arrived to give the Gwalior troops a repetition of the lesson taught them at Agra on the 10th October. They had had it all their own way since then; and having...

For more than six months rumours had been afloat of Ayub Khan's determination to advance on Kandahar; but little attention was paid to them by the authorities at that place unti...

While the events I have recounted were taking place, the Commander-in-Chief and the Head-Quarters staff were on their way up country inspecting the troops at the various station...

Just before I started I had the pleasure of welcoming my old friend and brother officer, Major-General J. Hills, V.C., C.B., who had been with Sir Donald Stewart as Assistant Ad...

Archdale Wilson assumes command--Enemy baffled in the Sabzi Mandi --Efforts to exterminate the Feringhis --A letter from General Havelock--News of Henry Lawrence's death --Arriv...

We remained at Agra until the 9th December. There was so much of beauty and interest in and around the place, that Lady Canning found a wealth of subjects for her facile pencil,...

On the 15th October I handed over my command to Major-General Phayre, and started for England, making, by the desire of the Viceroy, a diversion to Simla, where Lord Ripon recei...

On the morning of the 15th the situation was reviewed, and preparations made for the conquest of the city. Order was restored amongst the troops, who, as I have shown, had becom...

In 1877 Russia declared war with Turkey; for more than a year fighting had been going on between the two countries, and as it seemed possible to the British Government that Engl...

I was informed by the Viceroy's Private Secretary in the beginning of March that, unless satisfactory arrangements could soon be come to with Yakub Khan, an onward move would ha...

The next morning, the 1st September, in accordance with instructions from Simla, I assumed command of the army in southern Afghanistan. There was no return to show the strength...

On the morning of the 12th I was cheered by hearing that the Guides had arrived during the night under the command of Colonel P. Jenkins--a most welcome reinforcement, for I kne...

While I was employed in the Chief Commissioner's office at Rawal Pindi it became known that the Mutineers intended to make their stand at Delhi, and immediately urgent demands c...

We only remained three months at 'Ooty,' for on the 8th July a telegram arrived from Lord Dufferin announcing the Queen's approval of my being appointed to succeed Sir Donald St...

The India of to-day is altogether a different country from the India of 1857. Much has been done since then to improve the civil administration, and to meet the legitimate deman...

The operation which I have tried to describe in the last chapter was not completed until well on in the afternoon, when the movement towards the Residency was at once proceeded...

Many interesting and important questions had to be dealt with during this my first year as a member of the Viceroy's Council, and it was pleasant to me to be able to bring befor...

The first threatenings of coming trouble were heard in the early part of 1857. During the months of February, March, and April, rumours reached us at Peshawar of mysterious _chu...

Towards the close of the year 1856, a rumour reached us that the Amir, Dost Mahomed Khan, was shortly expected to arrive at Peshawar to meet the Chief Commissioner, Sir John Law...

The outlook in Afghanistan on the 1st January, 1880, was fairly satisfactory; the tidings of the defeat and dispersion of the tribesmen had spread far and wide, and had apparent...

Sir Donald Stewart's division, which, I have mentioned, it had been decided should be sent to Kabul to take part in the pacification of northern Afghanistan, left Kandahar[1] on...

I had given much thought to the question of housing the troops during the winter, which was now fast approaching. Some of the senior officers were in favour of quartering them i...

The Relief of the Lucknow garrison was now accomplished--a grand achievement indeed, of which any Commander might well be proud, carried out as it had been in every particular a...

In January, 1869, Sir John Lawrence, after a career which was altogether unique, he having risen from the junior grades of the Bengal Civil Service to the almost regal position...

Forty years ago the departure of a cadet for India was a much more serious affair than it is at present. Under the regulations then in force, leave, except on medical certificat...

Early in the New Year (1864) Sir Hugh Rose, with the Head-Quarters camp, marched into Peshawar, where we remained until the middle of February. The time was chiefly spent in ins...

It will, perhaps, be as well to recall to the reader's mind that the object of the expedition in which we were taking part was to rescue some sixty Europeans, who, from one caus...

In the beginning of October my wife and I started for a fortnight's trip to the top of the Chor, a fine mountain sixty-two miles from Simla, and close on 12,000 feet high. We we...

Our stay at Cawnpore was more prolonged than the Commander-in-Chief intended or wished it to be, but want of transport made it impossible for us to move until the carts returned...

Affairs on our north-west and south-east frontiers were at this time in a very unsettled state. Indeed, the political outlook altogether had assumed rather a gloomy aspect. Our...

Lord Napier of Murchiston, the Governor of Madras, had been summoned to Calcutta to act as Viceroy until Lord Northbrook, Lord Mayo's successor, should arrive. He seemed interes...

During our three days' halt at Agra we were told the story of all that had happened before we came, and a sad story it was of incapacity and neglected opportunity. The Lieutenan...

The mail-cart rattled across the bridge of boats, and in less than an hour I found myself at Ludhiana, at the house of George Ricketts,[1] the Deputy Commissioner. Ricketts's bu...

On the 1st November my Head-Quarters and the 1st division moved into Sherpur, which the Engineers had prepared for winter quarters, and where stores of provisions and forage wer...

When I went to India the mode of travelling was almost as primitive as it had been a hundred, and probably five hundred, years before. Private individuals for the most part used...

On the 18th May Brigadier Chamberlain and I arrived at Rawal Pindi, where we joined the Chief Commissioner, who had got thus far on his way to his summer residence in the Murree...

Before continuing my story, it will, I think, be as well to recall to the minds of my readers the train of events which led to England and Russia becoming at the same moment sol...

It was a proud, albeit a most anxious, moment for me when I assumed command of the Kuram Field Force; though a local Major-General, I was only a Major in my regiment, and save f...

Extension of command --Efficiency of the Native Army --Concessions to the Native Army --Officering of the Native Army --The Hunza-Naga campaign --Visit to Nepal--A Nepalese ente...

I will now continue my story from the 29th June, the morning after my arrival in camp, when I awoke full of excitement, and so eager to hear all my old friend Norman could tell...

What brought about the Mutiny? --Religious fears of the people--The land question --The annexation of Oudh --Fulfilment of Malcolm's prophecy --The Delhi royal family--The Nana...

Reinforcements begin to arrive --An assault again proposed--The attack on Alipur --Death of General Barnard --General Reed assumes command --Two V.C.'s--Treachery in camp --Figh...

The Umbeyla expedition--The Akhund of Swat --The 'Eagle's Nest' and 'Crag piquet' --The death of Lord Elgin --Loyalty of our Pathan soldiers --Bunerwals show signs of submission...

Political situation at Kabul --Serious trouble ahead --Macpherson attacks the Kohistanis --Combined movements--The uncertainty of war --The fight in the Chardeh valley--Forced t...

Mianganj--Curious effect of a mirage --The Dilkusha revisited--Passage of the Gumti --Capture of the Chakar Kothi --Capture of the iron bridge--Hodson mortally wounded --Outram'...

Lord Lytton becomes Viceroy --Difficulties with Sher Ali --Imperial assemblage at Delhi --Reception of the Ruling Chiefs --Queen proclaimed Empress of India --Political importan...

Archdale Wilson assumes command --Enemy baffled in the Sabzi Mandi --Efforts to exterminate the Feringhis --A letter from General Havelock --News of Henry Lawrence's death --Arr...

The Kuram valley--Conflicting news of the enemy --An apparently impregnable position --Spingawi route decided on--Disposition of the force --A night attack--Advantages of a nigh...

Necessity for further action--Departure from Delhi --Action at Bulandshahr--Lieutenant Home's death --Knights-errant--Fight at Aligarh --Appeals from Agra--Collapse of the admin...

Sir Colin's preparations--The Alambagh --The Dilkusha and Martinière--Mayne's death --A tall-talk story--Ammunition required --A night march--The advance on Lucknow --Sir Colin...

The first victory--Enthusiasm amongst the troops --Barnard's success at Badli-ki-Serai --The Flagstaff Tower--Position on the Ridge --Quintin Battye--The gallant little Gurkhas...

Massacre of the Embassy--The Kabul Field Force --Lord Lytton's foresightedness--Start for Kabul --Letter to the Amir --Proclamation to the people of Kabul --Yakub Khan's agents...